Another Top-10 List — Best (and Worst) States for Job Growth Rates — May 2018

My number one Axiom is: Jobs are everything to the economy – period. This includes the demand for real estate. Axioms are statements that are so evident they are accepted as the truth. Where job growth is the greatest directly correlates to strong demand for real estate.

The first table shows the Top-10 job gainers (percent) for the 12-months ending May 2018. Also included are job growth rates during the past two-, five- and ten-year periods. These ranks (for the intervals of 1-, 2-, 5- and 10-years) were then summed (the Growth Index Score), with the lowest sum ranked the best overall.

Utah, which ranked 1st in job growth for the prior 12-months, also ranked 1st best in 2-, 5- and 10-year intervals, resulting in a Growth Index Score of 4. Among the top-10 states, all but two, West Virginia and North Carolina, were West of the Mississippi. Utah’s strong 3.40 percent one-year gain was more than double the 1.61 percent U.S. rate in the same period.

The story this month in the top-10 performers was West Virginia, ranking 8th best overall with a 2.30 percent 12-month job growth rate. In November 2017, West Virginia ranked 48th out of 51 (including the district of Columbia), having lost 0.68 percent of all jobs in the prior 12-months. What changed? The following table shows the percentage change in 12-month job growth rates for West Virginia as of November 2017 and May 2018. The state went from posting net job losses in six of the nine sectors to just two.

The next table shows the 10 worst performing states in 12-month job growth ending May 2018, along with the 2-, 5- and 10-year intervals and corresponding ranks.

The following table shows the percent change in jobs for each state and the District of Columbia for the 12-months ending May 2018 and respective rank. The underlying data are employment numbers on a seasonally adjusted basis as provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Only two states continued to post a loss in jobs: North Dakota which had dropped by 0.46 percent and Alaska, a minimal -0.15 percent.

Want to know these findings for all 50 states and the District of Columbia? Attached is a PDF including respective job performance and ranks. It is sorted alphabetically by state, but includes all of the data previously discussed.